Thermal-stable Si-doped alumina was prepared by the reverse microemulsion method and was used as the support of Pd catalyst for the methane combustion. The physicochemical properties of Si-alumina and catalytic performance of Pd/Si-Al2O3 were characterized by XRD, N-2 adsorption, FT-IR, XPS and methane catalytic combustion. The results indicate that the presence of Si can increase the thermal stability of alumina and promote the coordination state of aluminum from tetrahedral to octahedral, but its content added should be controlled appropriately to 5-6 wt%. Si-doped alumina prepared by the reverse microemulsion method is an excellent support of Pd catalyst for the methane combustion, which can increase both the catalytic activity and thermal stability of the Pd catalyst. The studies also show that the calcination temperature of support affects remarkably the performance of catalyst, and the high thermal stability of support is very important to increase the performance of Pd catalyst for the methane combustion. (C) 2007Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.